Every group finds a home at Lollapalooza
Charlotte Downes
Issue date: 8/25/08 Section: The Edge
Every summer, Chicagoans become furious with the Pitchfork and Lollapalooza kids who clog the L trains, idle in Starbucks and turn pedestrian traffic into a mess, mostly by way of lollygagging around in the middle of the sidewalk while gawking at buildings and staring helplessly at CTA maps.
This summer, I was one of them - one of those freaking festival kids. And everyone knew it because of the little grey lanyard snaked around my wrist by a large, sweating security guard. Every morning, I left Rodgers Park and waited impatiently for the L to crawl downtown. At the DePaul stop, suddenly it was flooded with kids headed to Lollapalooza.
The first day, I gritted my teeth. But by the second day, I came to a realization. It's totally okay to be one of "those kids." While at Lollapalooza, I saw 19 bands. I saw jazz singers, alt-country rockers, techno fiends, moshers, you name it. I got an awkward tan line and bruises on my legs, and I developed a platonic crush on Cat Power. It was amazing.
On Saturday, we camped out to be in the front row for Wilco. While we waited, a girl with a piercing reading Kurt Vonnegut, three guys in man-pris and two preppy DePaul girls pouring over a Cosmo were all in a 30-foot radius of us. Behind me, two 13-year-olds with braces and matching pink converse sneakers were devising hopeless plans to sneak backstage and make out with Jeff Tweedy. This was a pretty common experience - the diversity of the crowd was refreshing. Where else but an outdoor music festival could you see frat boys screaming for MGMT to do an encore?
The lineup was just as diverse. The cute, bubble pop of the Ting Tings - you've heard their hit "Shut Up and Let Me Go" in that cell phone commercial - is great for those who want a less obnoxious and more talented version of CSS. Those seeking high school nostalgia flocked to Brand New and The Weakerthans for some angst and displaced suburban kid anger, or What Made Milwaukee Famous.
The Cool Kids turned the Citi Bank side stage into a wild, sweaty dance party. Fresh off a Barack Obama fundraiser, the Chicago natives put a fresh take on hip hop without sounding exactly like Kanye West. If you haven't heard these guys yet, download "The Bake Sale" EP immediately.
This summer, I was one of them - one of those freaking festival kids. And everyone knew it because of the little grey lanyard snaked around my wrist by a large, sweating security guard. Every morning, I left Rodgers Park and waited impatiently for the L to crawl downtown. At the DePaul stop, suddenly it was flooded with kids headed to Lollapalooza.
The first day, I gritted my teeth. But by the second day, I came to a realization. It's totally okay to be one of "those kids." While at Lollapalooza, I saw 19 bands. I saw jazz singers, alt-country rockers, techno fiends, moshers, you name it. I got an awkward tan line and bruises on my legs, and I developed a platonic crush on Cat Power. It was amazing.
On Saturday, we camped out to be in the front row for Wilco. While we waited, a girl with a piercing reading Kurt Vonnegut, three guys in man-pris and two preppy DePaul girls pouring over a Cosmo were all in a 30-foot radius of us. Behind me, two 13-year-olds with braces and matching pink converse sneakers were devising hopeless plans to sneak backstage and make out with Jeff Tweedy. This was a pretty common experience - the diversity of the crowd was refreshing. Where else but an outdoor music festival could you see frat boys screaming for MGMT to do an encore?
The lineup was just as diverse. The cute, bubble pop of the Ting Tings - you've heard their hit "Shut Up and Let Me Go" in that cell phone commercial - is great for those who want a less obnoxious and more talented version of CSS. Those seeking high school nostalgia flocked to Brand New and The Weakerthans for some angst and displaced suburban kid anger, or What Made Milwaukee Famous.
The Cool Kids turned the Citi Bank side stage into a wild, sweaty dance party. Fresh off a Barack Obama fundraiser, the Chicago natives put a fresh take on hip hop without sounding exactly like Kanye West. If you haven't heard these guys yet, download "The Bake Sale" EP immediately.
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